Spire X2.6011 review: lots of room with a view

Spire raises the bar

By David van DantzigMonday 24 December 2012 05:58

Introduction

Spire is known for offering good value for the money, but its products usually don't stand out too much. Under the new label Spire X2 the manufacturer is introducing products aimed at a higher segment of the market. These include a couple of CPU coolers and a chassis, the Spire X2.6011. In this article we will take a closer look at that chassis. Without getting ahead of ourselves too much, we can already say that Spire created a pretty interesting product with the X2.6011.

The Spire X2.6011 is chassis that Spire has geared towards gamers, at least how the industry views "gamers". Gamers apparently enjoy different-looking designs, with a window in the side panel to look at all the high-end components inside, and lots of case fans to keep those components cool. We've noticed in our forums and the comment sections that not all gamers agree with these preconceived notions of what they are expected to like. On the other hand, it's frequently the younger of our co-workers that do get excited about uniquely-designed chassis. And they also happen to the gamers among us. So perhaps there is some truth in this stereotype?

Either way, the Spire X2.6011 does looking imposing, with its lightly tinted and protruding window that takes up most of the left panel. The edges that stand out on both sides of the front panel with their sharp corners and the slightly forward-sloping design does give the chassis an aggressive feel to it.

Comparing

Spire wants about £90 for the X2.6011, but you can find it a bit cheaper as well. That's a good price for a chassis with windows, five included case fans, fan controllers, and quite a few smart features. It would be a good deal even if they had priced it slightly higher. We compared the X2.6011 with a number of previously tested chassis, ranging from about £60 to more than £100.

You can see in the chart below that the X2.6011 isn't the smallest of chassis, but with a volume of 57dm³ it's also not the largest. Six chassis are larger.